About me:Dr. Virachai Techavijit started his teaching career very early in life. At age 17 he was the Grade 6 class teacher at Joseph Upatham School, Thailand, then two years later after he received his Advanced Teaching Diploma in 1966 from Thai Education Ministry, at age 19, he was appointed as the Headmaster for two years till March 1969.
Dr. Virachai graduated in Accountancy from Thomas More College, Greater Cincinnati, USA in 1973 and received his MA and PhD degrees in the same field from the University of Missouri-Columbia, USA in 1979. In the same year he also received his Certified Public Accountant (CPA) certificate from the State of Nebraska USA whilst lecturing as an assistant professor at University of Nebraska. Whilst studying and after his Ph.D., he taught at three leading universities in the U.S.A. from 1975-1981. Before he received an offer to teach MBA courses at Anderson School of Management at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), he was an associate professor at University of Nevada-Las Vegas in 1980-1981.
After he returned to Thailand in 1981, he worked as a special assistant to Khun Dhanin Cheavaranon, CEO of CP Group, (currently the largest foreign investor in China) for international trade and investments until 1985. Then Khun Anand Panyarachun (former Prime Minister of Thailand) appointed him his secretary general at Association of Thai International Trading Companies, and at ASEAN-US Business Council. In 1988 he was invited by Khun Chatri Sophonpanich (chairman of Bangkok Bank, the largest Bank in Thailand) as the senior advisor to Thai Bankers Association’s Executive Committee. Then he became the Senior Executive Vice President of Bangkok Metropolitan Bank. In 1994 the Cabinet appointed him Chairman of the Board of the Mass Rapid Transit Authority (MRTA). He initiated the construction of the Blue Line. From 1996 he was appointed the adviser to The Prime Minister (General Chavalit Yongchaiyut). He left politics in 1997 to focus on his 2 years old Regent's international school.
Since 1995, he has been Chairman of The Regent's Schools, Thailand and UK. He is also Chairman of Grand Regent Group of Companies. In 2007 he lectured on international education’s impact on Thai people at Oxford University and four years later in 2011 he gave a lecture at Cambridge University on how education tackles collective corruption. He has been the Honorary Consul and later Consul General of Estonia in Bangkok since he left politics in 1998. Latest in September 2013, he was appointed the Chairman of Subcommittee on Legislature Amendments on ‘Human Development,’ a non-partisan committee appointed by the House Speaker which was, after the parliamentary dissolution, transformed to a privately funded working group to produce blueprints for the country’s education reform with him remained as the Head.
My full CV can be viewed at www.regents.ac.th/chairman/
Special Lectures
1. Oxford University, International Education in Thailand and IB Philosophy, 1 March 2007. See the script, click www.regents.ac.th/oxfordtalk/
2. Cambridge University, “Is Education Effective in Tackling Collective Corruption?” 12 October 2011. Read an article, click www.regents.ac.th/cambridgetalk/